Peculiar thing I noticed when trying to book... WWYD?

[ruadisneyfan2]

I am undecided on where to stay for our short visit in late Nov. It's only 2 nights (split stay with Universal).

If I enter our dates, which fall under the Holiday Promo (room only), it's a very short list of choices. Fine. When I remove the discount to show rack rate, the list of course is longer. Makes sense; the promo states limited availability.

The strange thing is when I was rechecking once, and the website automatically entered a date of check out that was several days beyond our real check out date, suddenly there was LOTS of choices of resorts. This makes no sense to me and leads me to believe that Disney holds back on true availability, even at rack rate.

For example, our stay is a Tuesday to Thursday. WL is not available. Yet if I enter Tuesday - Sunday, well then suddenly it IS available, along with like 6 others that didn't show before. I could understand if it were the other way around but if it's available Tues-Sunday, it should still be available Tues-Thurs.

If I book this way as a longer stay and then later, before the 5 day penalty date, call to adjust our dates to shorten our stay, will they tell me I can't?

Has anyone tried this?

 

[WIll C]

Call them and see if they'll just give you the resort you want with that discount. My wife was able to do that. We had booked our trip this fall early and they said the discounts would probably come out later. When they did come out (30% off) our reservation wasn't officially listed. She called and got them to give us the discount without otherwise affecting our reservation.
You might also just call them now and ask what happens if you have to check out early or adjust the stay before you get there without actually making a reservation.

 

[mickeynut1]

I am undecided on where to stay for our short visit in late Nov. It's only 2 nights (split stay with Universal).

If I enter our dates, which fall under the Holiday Promo (room only), it's a very short list of choices. Fine. When I remove the discount to show rack rate, the list of course is longer. Makes sense; the promo states limited availability.

The strange thing is when I was rechecking once, and the website automatically entered a date of check out that was several days beyond our real check out date, suddenly there was LOTS of choices of resorts. This makes no sense to me and leads me to believe that Disney holds back on true availability, even at rack rate.

For example, our stay is a Tuesday to Thursday. WL is not available. Yet if I enter Tuesday - Sunday, well then suddenly it IS available, along with like 6 others that didn't show before. I could understand if it were the other way around but if it's available Tues-Sunday, it should still be available Tues-Thurs.

If I book this way as a longer stay and then later, before the 5 day penalty date, call to adjust our dates to shorten our stay, will they tell me I can't?

Has anyone tried this?

It used to be easy to take nights off, but Disney changed that a few years ago. The shorter stay must now be available as if it was a new reservation in order to modify. If you book the longer stay, there is a chance you won't be able to shorten it later. If the shorter stay is not available, a regular reservation CM doesn't have the ability to make that change. With that said, you can ask to speak to someone in guest services as guest services has the ability to make that change and keep the discount, but it's not guaranteed they will.

 

[Hopefully]

It has been well documented that Disney is using minimum stay booking algorithms for awhile

 

[Dave006]

Not only are minimum booking stays in the system but also specific days of the week during different periods of the year and the rules can vary by resort(s) you select. While this does not benefit every guest, it does help Disney reduce the number of orphan room day(s) and provide more blocks of room days on average.

For stays over 7 days, consider breaking your dates up into 2 blocks while searching. Also consider starting your stay on a Sunday or Monday.

Dave

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

Thanks everyone.

I'll just find something that shows as available for our dates. At some resorts, rack rate on a standard room is actually cheaper than other room categories that are discounted so I'm not even particular about keeping the discount. I'll find something eventually but Disney is making it harder and harder to have spontaneity with anything. Unless you plan everything 6-12 months in advance, you're stuck.
I can't imagine how much worse this will be in 20 years and I'm really not a glass half empty kind of person.

 

[Dug720]

This is one place where using a TA can really come in handy - especially if you don't want to call Disney yourself. They can often figure things out that we cannot. (And no, I'm not a TA. I never used one until my Feb trip - and I realized then how valuable a good TA can be, especially for a Disney trip. I still made my ADRs and FP+ - though she would have been willing to do that. Just any resort changes have to go through her. No biggie.)

 

[ColoradoMom12]

Disney once modified a reservation for me that I made by mistake so it can be done. This was a few months ago for a Thanksgiving room-only reservation. I did essentially the same thing. Entered our dates, walked away, came back and didn’t notice that Disney had reverted back to their pre-selected dates. About a week later, after not receiving a confirmation email, I went in to MDE to check the reservation. Of course it was wrong. I was going to just book the correct dates and then cancel the first one, but the dates I wanted (2 nights) weren’t showing availability for any room category. I called and explained what had happened, and they changed it for me. So it can be done. I don’t know if they would change it just because you wanted unavailable dates, however.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

If I book this way as a longer stay and then later, before the 5 day penalty date, call to adjust our dates to shorten our stay, will they tell me I can't?

Has anyone tried this?

I've experienced both. I've booked a week, called to shorten it, and was told I couldn't. I asked why not, and was told they have certain rooms that are only available for longer stays. I called back, got a different CM, and was able to change it. So basically, CM roulette.

 

[maccagerl]

I've called before and the CMs were very good at trying to find a way for it to work.
Last year there was no availability at POFQ for the dates I wanted. Someone suggested booking single nights. So I had 5 1-night res at POFQ with the first night at POP. The CM was on the phone a long time trying to make it work. She was finally able to give me one more night at the end of my stay but couldn't link them together.

When I checked in at POFQ they were able to change my several reservations into 1 long res.

Also, in June I booked ASMu with one of the discounts for the 1st 3 days, and at reg price for the last 3. Shortly after, another discount came out that only covered the last 3 days. The website wouldn't let me fix it because of their algorithm. Icalled and the very nice CM was able to work her magic and fixed so I could get both discounts.

So if you really want it, there is often a way to make it work!

 

[writerguyfl]

What's being described is known as Revenue Management. The goal is to fill the most number of rooms at the highest rate. Pretty much every hotel on the planet uses Revenue Management in one form or another. Given that hotels are for-profit entities, it's not strange that owners try to squeeze out every last drop of revenue.

To accomplish the goal, there are a number of different tools to use. The most common (and easiest to understand) is the minimum stay requirement. It's pretty basic: If your stay touches a day that has a minimum-stay requirement, you must meet that requirement in order to make a reservation.

Without question, Revenue Management benefits the hotel. But, what many people don't realize is that it benefits most guests, too. This benefit is derived from the fact that things like minimum stay requirements essentially "save" rooms.

For a moment, imagine if Disney World didn't use Revenue Management. There are about 30 million people living within driving distance of Orlando. It's not unreasonable to think that most weekends would get booked far in advance by those folks. Many would even make speculative reservations as soon as availability was opened. Doing that gives them the option of making the trip or canceling just prior to arrival (because room-only reservations have a shorter cancelation period).

Now, think about someone wanting to book a 7-night Walt Disney World vacation about six months out. If every Friday and Saturday night is already booked by those weekenders, it would be impossible to get a reservation for 7 nights. In that scenario, Disney loses 5 nights of revenue and the guest has to stay off-site or end up going somewhere else on vacation.

But, with Revenue Management in force, Disney can "save" that room so that guest who wants a longer vacation can book it.

I get why people don't like things like minimum-stay requirements. They seem a bit unfair and arbitrary. Once you realize that they might actually be helping "save" a room for you, they start looking better.

When I first started working in hotels, my manager explained it this way: If you've ever stayed at a sold-out hotel on a multi-night reservation, it's probably because Revenue Management "saved" that room for you.

Note: Revenue Management is wildly complex. It involves math that would make many people cry. The above is a very basic overview that purposely skips over many aspects in order to keep it reasonably understandable.

 

[mom2rtk]

W
Without question, Revenue Management benefits the hotel. But, what many people don't realize is that it benefits most guests, too.

Well.... except for the guests who are closed out of booking what they really want.

 

[tinker~bell]

I just had this issue, when I put in 6 nights it was showing a certain room/price and when I took off the last night that option disappeared and only a more expensive room with a different view was available. I booked the extra night at the cheaper rate and called back to say I crunched some number and it was more than I wanted to spend. Th CM was not able to remove it and said I would hear from guest relations. Called back the next day and the CM put me on hold while they spoke to guest relations and got it removed for me. But I guess there's no guarantee that is the outcome and I had a backup plan ready.

 

[Nancyg56]

It used to be easy to take nights off, but Disney changed that a few years ago. The shorter stay must now be available as if it was a new reservation in order to modify. If you book the longer stay, there is a chance you won't be able to shorten it later. If the shorter stay is not available, a regular reservation CM doesn't have the ability to make that change. With that said, you can ask to speak to someone in guest services as guest services has the ability to make that change and keep the discount, but it's not guaranteed they will.

I agree. I had booked a Bounce Back and later on I wanted to reduce the number of nights. I was able to do so but in order to do that I needed to change my view category. If was all that was left. It was more expensive per night for me to make the change, but less money overall, so I did that.

There is also no more "applying" a discount, if that really did exist at all. We used to "apply a discount to whatever we had booked, and people still suggest doing so. Your cannot. You can book a new reservation, and cancel the old. It seems like it is simply discounting because the reservation number stays the same, but it really is not.

I always tell people to book what they want and what they will be happy with, If they find a better price then go for it, but do not book hoping that later it will be possible to tailor the stay and keep the same discount. Sometimes you can, but what happens if you cannot? I don't liek facing difficult decisions that I could have avoided.

 

[mickeynut1]

I always tell people to book what they want and what they will be happy with, If they find a better price then go for it, but do not book hoping that later it will be possible to tailor the stay and keep the same discount. Sometimes you can, but what happens if you cannot? I don't liek facing difficult decisions that I could have avoided.

Very good advice!

 

[Dug720]

I always tell people to book what they want and what they will be happy with, If they find a better price then go for it, but do not book hoping that later it will be possible to tailor the stay and keep the same discount. Sometimes you can, but what happens if you cannot? I don't liek facing difficult decisions that I could have avoided.

This.

The same applies to room type. Book the room type you will be happy with regardless. IF there is an upgrade it will be a magical bonus. I see far too many people trying to book the cheapest and then trying to figure out the best way to get an upgrade. Upgrades are never guaranteed - even if you've (the generic "you") been lucky on every previous visit - and should never be counted on.

 

[Nancyg56]

This.

The same applies to room type. Book the room type you will be happy with regardless. IF there is an upgrade it will be a magical bonus. I see far too many people trying to book the cheapest and then trying to figure out the best way to get an upgrade. Upgrades are never guaranteed - even if you've (the generic "you") been lucky on every previous visit - and should never be counted on.

Also if you try to pay for an upgrade at check in you may not be able to. The resort cannot give you something that is not available.

 

[Dug720]

Also if you try to pay for an upgrade at check in you may not be able to. The resort cannot give you something that is not available.

Exactly.

Book what you're going to be happy with and consider any upgrade - paid or pixie dusted - as a bonus. (I see the same thing on the cruise forum - people saying "Oh, I don't want an inside cabin, but I'll book an inside cabin and then upgrade at the port because that's almost always less than if I booked the higher category now". I've been on 4 Disney cruises and every single one of them has had the "Captain Mickey reports that this sailing is full and no upgrades are available!" sign up from the moment check-in began.)

 

[Nancyg56]

Exactly.

Book what you're going to be happy with and consider any upgrade - paid or pixie dusted - as a bonus. (I see the same thing on the cruise forum - people saying "Oh, I don't want an inside cabin, but I'll book an inside cabin and then upgrade at the port because that's almost always less than if I booked the higher category now". I've been on 4 Disney cruises and every single one of them has had the "Captain Mickey reports that this sailing is full and no upgrades are available!" sign up from the moment check-in began.)

I was told this when I was booking our first trip in many many years. I had read about upgrades and thought how wonderful that would be, and you know I was so sure my family would be the lucky ones..both rooms. Well after reading sage advice to people here, I called and bumped us up to CL and never looked back. A few years ago I booked an impromptu trip and was trying to keep costs down so I booked CSR and skipped CL there. I thought about it and called back. Gone. I called several times and also tried upon check in. Nope. Sold out is sold out.

No more. I seldom care about view, however if I want something now I book it right away.

 

[FSU Girl]

Call to book this room. Explain that when you enter a longer date range you see the room available, but when you shorten it it's gone. I did this for my NYE stay. The Contemporary would only show the room available for a longer stay. They were able to override the system and give me the dates I needed.